Vanilla Ice Cream

I know. This could not get any more vanilla. Plain Jane. Milquetoast. Waspy.

But.

There is a reason you don’t see many ice cream posts on this blog (I think there may be one).

I do not have the ice cream juju.

Every summer, I set out to conquer the beast, and every summer I fail. Regardless of recipe, my attempts turn out chalky, overly rich and just plain sad. Oh, and expensive. Last summer’s attempt involved Sicilian pistachios and dozens of hand-pitted cherries. The result was inedible.

So this summer I decided to dial it back and start with crawling instead of toe picking. And it worked. The result was creamy, just sweet enough and perfect for topping a piece of peach pie.

So, I thought I’d share. In case I’m not the only remedial ice cream maker out there.

I don’t really have a recipe for the peach pie, but I live and die by this sour cream pie crust.

I know it’s supposed to be hot this holiday weekend, but speaking of toe picks.

Vanilla Ice Cream

New York Times (I swear I don’t get all of my recipes here)

Ingredients

2 C heavy cream
1 C whole milk
2/3 C sugar
1/8 tsp fine sea salt (I had this on hand–if you don’t, just use kosher)
6 large egg yolks

Directions

In a small pot, simmer heavy cream, milk, sugar and Salk until everything completely dissolves (about 5 minutes). Remove pot from heat.
In a separate bowl, whisk yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk-in about 1/3 of the hot cream to the yolk mixture. Then whisk the yolk mixture back into the remaining cream in the pot.
Return the pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees).
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours (overnight is even better).
Follow directions on your ice cream machine. Serve directly for soft-serve, store in freezer for a more ice cream like consistency.

It’s all about the crust, ’bout the crust not the filling. It’s all about the crust, ’bout the crust…

Well, the filling is important too. But in this post, just in time for Thanksgiving, we’re focusing on crust.

And a song that has been stuck in my head for weeks.

The following things top my list of fears: sharks, bears, spiders, making pie crust and fake hair pieces (don’t ask). If I were ever to get caught in the storyline of Stephen King’s It, the fear scenario would include me in a mall with hundreds of those hair-piece kiosks while being chased by a bear toward a fountain filled with sharks as I tried to make a pie crust. I don’t know where the spiders would fit in but they’d be there.

I’m proud to say that over the summer I conquered one of those fears. And it isn’t the one about the fake hair.

During baking class we spent a week on pie crusts. While we’d already learned the important “cutting-in” technique that combines the butter into the flour (snapping the butter and flour with your finger-tips), it was the discussion of pie-crust philosophy that helped make things click in my brain.

Butter is good for flavor. Shortening or other 100% based solid fat is good for flakiness.

The deal with butter is that it isn’t 100% fat. It also contains water. Generally speaking, the higher quality the butter, the lower the water percentage. Water plus gluten (by way of flour) equals chew. So the goal with pie crust is to optimize both flavor and flake.

Which is where the vodka comes in. And, I don’t just mean the cocktail I suggest you drink while making pie crust. I’d heard about people who incorporated vodka into their pie dough and asked about it in class. The instructor explained that the alcohol works as a sort of drying agent and the vodka is tasteless when it bakes-off. So, the theory is that by replacing some or all of the water in a recipe with vodka the flakiness of the dough is potentially heightened.

This, I had to try. I replaced half of the water with vodka. And went 100% butter.

The results of the trial were successful. Always one to follow the scientific method, I tried it several more times across the summer, all with consistently flakey and tasty crust.

Even the next day.

The other thing that has helped to eliminate my fear of pie crust is that I’ve gotten over whatever prejudice I had in my head about using the food processor to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Pie crust is pretty easy by hand. It’s a snap with a food processor.

So my friends, do not fear those holiday pies!

Soundtrack: Do I really need to spell it out?

Pie Crust

adapted from Cooks Illustrated

this makes a double crust

Ingredients

2 1/2 (12 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp salt
20 TBS (1 pound 4 ounces or 5 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and frozen
1/4 C (2 ounces) vodka, chilled (I keep a bottle in the freezer for this and the impromptu Moscow Mule)
1/4 C ice water

Directions

Process flour, sugar and salt in food processor until combined. If you decide to go old school and do this by hand, whisk together ingredients in a large bowl.
Scatter butter in processor bowl and pulse until butter cuts-in and is reduced to pea-to-lima bean size. You want visible pieces of butter. If doing by hand, using the tips of your fingers only, snap the butter into the flour, shaking the bowl every once in a while so that the larger pieces rise to the top.
Sprinkle-in all of the vodka and half of the water, pulse so that the dough starts to come together. If the dough is dry, add-in the remaining water one TBS at-a-time until the dough barely holds together–it’s okay if you have crumbly pieces you don’t want an actual dough. If doing by hand, sprinkle vodka and half the water over the flour-butter mixture and, using clean hands, gather the dough together, working gently adding in the remaining water as needed.
Whether working by hand or processor, dump dough out on to a floured surface. Split it in half and push each half into a 4-inch disk (still okay, in fact it’s good if the dough barely holds together. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour before rolling-out and proceeding with your pie.

Piece of pie!

I’ve made my fear of pate brise no secret. I blame certain family members who suckled me on the crust of incredibly flakey and light pie crusts during my formative years. As a result, I will generally do anything I can to avoid making pie crust. This has included, using passable proxies like shortbread or graham cracker to just baking a cake instead.

But.

TD asked for an apple pie to go with the Gobbla’ Cobbla.’ And since I knew they he would be recruited to roll about 250 Schweddy Balls earlier in the day, I had no choice but to acquiesce. I began with Dorie Greenspan’s Good for Almost Anything Pie Dough. Her recipe calls for a mix of very cold butter and shortening.

It also uses food processor…which made it a winner in my book.

I cheated just a little and when it was time to form the two disks of dough for refrigeration, I rolled-one-out, fit it to the pie dish and then put it in the fridge.

You know how reading a recipe the entire way through is like baking rule #1. Well, I didn’t and so, when I went to prepare the filling I realized the Ms. Greenspan calls for quick-cooking tapioca. Quite possibly the single baking-type ingredient I did not have in my pantry. Undeterred, I jumped over to my cooking and baking bible, the Joy of Cooking and perused their apple pie recipes. This is when I discovered a recipe that cooks the apples before putting them into the pie. Intrigued (and having all the ingredients), I jumped in. The core of the idea (ha) is to saute the apple chunks in butter until nearly cooked. I like an apple pie with lots of apples and so, adjusted the filling recipe up.

Then they cool.

And only THEN do they go into the chilled pie-crust.

At this point, I still had very little faith in my pie baking skills and so, went rustic on the crust.

Oh but wait…what is this I see before me? A pretty gorgeous pie with what certainly looked like flakey crust.

After enjoying our Gobbla’ Cobbla’ and martinis, the moment of truth was upon us. A few cautious cuts and the resulting piece looked like a presentable piece of pie. Then I took a bite. My reaction was to employ an expletive involving a reflexive verb, a number larger than one and a day of the week beginning with T. Was this it? Had I finally stumbled across the holy grail of apple pie? Just to be on the safe side, we conducted further research the next day. In fact, the picture below was taken the next day.

I fully intended on making this pie again before posting the recipe. Sadly, time has not been on my side. And so, I leave it to you dear readers to vet what I think might just be a very excellent pie recipe.

Soundtrack

New Mumford and Sons

If you like this, you might like these

Russian Grandmother’s Apple Pie-Cake

Tarte de Pommes a la Normande

Misanthropic Hostess Apple Pie

adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough and Joy of Cooking’s Apple Pie II recipes

For the Crust

Ingredients (this is for a double crust)

1 1 /2 C all-purpose flour
2 TBS sugar
3/4 tsp salt
10 TBS frozen unsalted butter cut into 1/2 TBS sized-pieves
2 1/2 TBS frozen vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pievs
1/4 or so of iced water

Directions

Place flour, sugar and salt in the food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse to just combined the ingredients.
Drop-in butter and shortening and pulse only until both are cut-into the flour–think un-even bits ranging from to pea-to-orzo sized.
Pulsing the processor on-and-off, add about 6 TBS a little at a time by pulsing and repeating. Then, use a few longer pulses to incorporate the water into the flour. Big pieces of butter in the dough, are fine (and encouraged). If needed, continue to add water a few drops at-a-time until the dough sticks together when pinched.
Scrape dough out of processor and onto a floured surface. Divide the dough in half, form two disks (or cheat like I did and roll-out one and place it in a deep pie dish). Wrap everything in plastic and refrigerate at least an hour before using.

For the Filling

Ingredients

4 LBS apples (I used a mix of Granny Smith and Fiji)
4 TBS unsalted butter
3/4 C sugar
1/2 TSP ground cinnamon
1/8 TSP salt

Directions

Peel and core apples, cutting as desired (I used a rustic chop with pieces about the size of large almonds).
In a very large skillet or pot, heat butter over high heat until sizzling and fragrant.
Add apples and toss until glazed with the butter.
Reduce the heat to medium, cover tightly and cook, stirring often. until the apples are softened but still slightly crunchy.
Stir in the sugar, cinnamon and salt.
Increase heat to high and cook at a rapid boil until the juices become thick and syrupy (about 3 minutes)
Immediately spread the apples i na thin layer on a baking sheet. Let cool to room temperature.

To Assemble and Bake

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
On a floured surface, roll-out your bottom layer of dough. Be sure to turn the dough often. Gently place dough into the pan, do not stretch dough.
Fill with apples and place in fridge while rolling-out second crust.
Roll out second crust.
Remove filled-pan from fridge and trim the edges of the dough so there is about 1/2 inch overhang.
Center the second piece of dough over the pie and press it against the bottom crust.
Trim the top crust to overhand just slightly over the bottom crust.
Pinch the crust (or roll up) to create a sealed edge.
Cut vents for steam and brush with egg wash if desired.
Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes until the crust is a rich, golden brown.
Let cool and then sit for at least 4 hours before cutting.